Month: July 2013

When the sequester became a real political threat last year, many lawmakers complained that the Pentagon didn’t seem ready for the possibility of across-the-board budget cuts; now the military is sending the message to Congress that if the sequester isn’t drastically changed, it will mean unacceptable defense cuts in the …

Facing criticism in both parties over surveillance work by the National Security Agency, intelligence officials released a series of top secret documents on how the NSA accesses bulk telephone records for terrorism investigations, as lawmakers demanded tighter restrictions to prevent civil liberties violations. “In the interest of increased transparency, the …

Congressional investigators says misconduct among TSA security employees at airports is up 25 percent in recent years, as a new report details workers are routinely accused of stealing, sleeping, bribery and failure to follow proper security procedures. The 38 page report can found here. The rundown of misconduct examples probably …

The White House moved to put meat on the bones today of President Obama’s effort to create new jobs for the middle class, rolling out a series of plans that include corporate tax reform, an increase in the minimum wage, investments in clean energy research, community colleges and increased spending …

With two months the fiscal year ends, the Pentagon is reportedly squeezing the military’s budget in search of extra savings, looking to use that money to further reduce the number of furlough days for over 650,000 civilian defense workers. The news came in a leak to the Associated Press, which …

A new report from a special inspector general who reviews U.S. spending in Afghanistan says a $200 million program to deal with political instability is a “bad value” for taxpayers, after investigators found it spent a quarter of its budget on “conferences, overhead and workshops” instead of issuing grants to …

Like college students putting off their homework until it absolutely has to be done, the Congress will clock in for a few more days this week and then beat it out of town until September 9, far behind as usual on the budget work for next year. In other words, …

With both parties unwilling to do the leg work needed in Congress to complete work on time for all twelve spending bills for the next fiscal year, the battle lines are already being drawn – between parties and inside parties – over a temporary budget plan to keep the government …

In a surprise move, Attorney General Eric Holder announced a legal effort today that could force the state of Texas to again submit any election law changes to the federal government for pre-approval, as the Justice Department tries to move past a recent Supreme Court ruling that set aside such …

While the White House won a victory on surveillance work at the National Security Agency on Wednesday as the House rejected a plan to limit NSA access to telephone records obtained through the Patriot Act, the close vote demonstrated that recent leaks about U.S. Intelligence work have made the program …